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To mark the occasion, the Continuing Education has a book display in the entrance area of the Library. You can also find a trail of Jane Austen quotations around the Library!

The Library has published an online guide to resources by and about Jane Austen, which also highlights events taking place around the country. One event not to be missed is the Which Jane Austen? exhibition at the Weston Library until the end of October

This year marks the centenary of the death of Percy Manning, Oxfordshire collector and folklorist. The Bodleian Library holds Manning’s archive and there is a public display from the archive in the Weston Library from 18th February – 23rd April. Various other events are taking place across Oxfordshire this year.

For more information about Manning, the archive and other events, please see the Bodleian Libraries website The book about Manning referred to will be available in the Continuing Education Library shortly.

Google is often dismissed as being irrelevant to the academic literature search. However, changes to the nature of the dissemination of scholarly research and official information in recent years mean that a wealth of relevant information can be accessed via standard Internet search engines such as Google. Too often however such information is lost amongst thousands of irrelevant, spurious and misleading results. Based on an understanding of how the Google search engine works this practical workshop will show you the basic techniques to quickly filter out high quality academic material from Google searches. Given concerns about the privacy costs of a ‘free’ search within search engines such as Google, alternative search engines will also be explored and compared, including DuckDuckGo.

Who is this session for? All DPhils and Research Students in the Social Sciences
Presenters: Cathy Scutt
Venue: Social Science Library, Information Skills Training Room

This 2 hour workshop will be invaluable for researchers hoping to find suitable literature for their literature review, for which a well-constructed set of search terms and an understanding of online search engines are prerequisites. This workshop will allow researchers to use their own research questions to build a search and apply it to a range of databases. Techniques for structuring a search will be explained, an overview of key online resources for the social sciences will be given , major search tools will be explored, and strategies for approaching large results sets and sourcing papers will be discussed. This practical workshop will involve paper exercises and online activities using attendees own research topics.

Who is this session for? All DPhil Students and Research Staff in the Social Sciences
Presenters: Craig Finlay and Tom Dale
Venue: Social Science Library, Information Skills Training Room

This session provides an opportunity for doctoral students to learn about using social science data archives to inform their research. It will also outline the workings of the institutional repository recently launched by the University of Oxford: ORA-Data. By the end of the session you will know how to locate and cite data from a range of data archives and have an understanding of the benefits and operation of ORA-Data.

Who is this session for? All DPhil Students and Research Staff in the Social Sciences
Presenter: John Southall
Venue: IT Services, Banbury Road

Are you a student with a University or Bodleian reader card who has never had a PCAS account?

You have an account already set up, the username and password are your card number and password which you use to log in to PCs in Bodleian Libraries or the Bodleian Libraries wifi system. For more information see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/using/copy/pcas

Are you a student with a University or Bodleian reader card who already has a PCAS account Created before 6th September)?

You will have a new account as above which replaces your old account. If you have money in your old account, you can transfer it to your new account by going to https://pcasportal.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

Are you a Continuing Education weekly class student or other reader with a local Continuing Education Library card?

If you already have a PCAS accounted created before 6th September, or you do not have an account and would like one, please ask the Library staff

The PCAS system for printing, copying and scanning in Bodleian Libraries over the summer. New, improved machines are being installed and there will changes to how accounts are managed.

If you have a University card or a Bodleian reader card:

From 6 September PCAS account authentication will switch to the Bodleian Libraries username and password (which is also used to login to reading room PCs and Bodleian Libraries WiFi). Information about this account is available from: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/using/passwords. Existing PCAS accounts will need to be updated and an online portal and library staff will be available to facilitate this.

This means:

One less username/password to remember

Automatic creation of accounts

No need to enter your account details when you print from a Library PC

Please note that there will be no PCAS service during the period Tuesday 30th August – Monday 5th September inclusive whilst the new system is installed. PCAS will continue to operate as normal until then.

Access to SOLO will be limited due to maintenance work on the library computer system from 5pm on Friday 12th August until 9.00am on Monday 15th August. You will still be able to search the catalogue but:

You will not be able to request items

The Find & Request tab will not be visible, so there will be no live item or availability information

You will not be able to view or renew your loans

It will not be possible to place requests

The silver lining is that online access to electronic resources will be unaffected. Please get in touch with the library if you have any urgent issues!

Bodleian Libraries have published a new online guide to the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera specially for local historians. The collection contains many fascinating items, including a large collection of trade cards which can now be searched for by place.

There’s also an opportunity to get involved in collecting ephemera for Oxford

Would you like to brush up on your IT and information skills for research? Why not come to a Research Skills Toolkit? These free 2 hour workshops introduce key software and online tools for your research, hone your searching and information skills and introduce you to subject specialists.

Topics on offer include: Finding articles, papers, conferences and theses; Keeping up to date and current awareness; Using Endnote to manage your references; Manipulating images using Gimp; Managing your thesis with word; Analyzising data with Excel pivot tables; Podcasting with Audacity; Plagiarism and how to avoid it; Your thesis, copyright and ORA; Finding highly cited journals and measuring research impact.

We are running the workshops in Week 8 (week beginning 30th November) Michaelmas (2015) and Week 1(week beginning 18th January) Hilary (2016). All sessions will be at IT Services, 13 Banbury Road.

Dates for Week 8 are as follows. Please pick one session from your subject area:

Medical Sciences: Wednesday 2nd December (10.00-12 noon); Thursday 3rd December (14.00-16.00)Book a place

Social Sciences: Tuesday 1st December (14.00 – 16.00); Thursday 3rd December (10.00-12 noon); Friday 4th December (10.00-12 noon)Book a place

Research Skills Toolkits for MPLA and Oriental Studies will run in January (Hilary Week 1). For dates and times of these and further dates for the subjects above, please visit our Bodleian iSkills LibGuide.

The following sessions are being held at the Centre for Digital Scholarship, Weston Library, during the Michaelmas term:

Bodleian Centre for Digital Scholarship: ORA and ORA Data Digital Drop-ins (Mondays 11.30-13.30 in term time): Do you want to know more about depositing your work or searching the Oxford University Research and Data Archives (ORA)? This term we will be holding regular drop-in surgeries in the Weston Library’s Centre for Digital Scholarship.

Who is this session for? Open to any member of the University
Venue: Centre for Digital Scholarship, Weston Library
No need to book —just come along!

Bodleian Centre for Digital Scholarship: Digital Coffee Afternoons (Mondays 14.00-15.00 week 2-8) – If you would like to meet other people interested in working with the Libraries’ digital or digitized collections, please come along to a digital coffee afternoon in the Visiting Scholars’ Centre at the Weston Library Venue: Visiting Scholars’ Centre at the Weston Library No need to book —just come along!

Bodleian Centre for Digital Scholarship: Digital Drop-ins (Mondays 9.30-11.30 in term time) – Are you thinking of developing a digital project using library collections? Do you have questions about getting it funded, what approach to take, or what might be possible? This term we will be holding regular drop-in surgeries in the Weston Library’s Centre for Digital Scholarship.

Who is this session for? Open to any member of the University
Venue: Centre for Digital Scholarship, Weston Library
No need to book —just come along!